


take only one

by intuitionist



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Lunar New Year, M/M, mark lee's fear of heights, monkeyshines, staying up all night (or at least trying to), the best donuts in tacoma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-15
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-03-16 05:54:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29448855
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/intuitionist/pseuds/intuitionist
Summary: Donghyuck is lucky to find his phone charger in his own tiny dorm room on a good day. Mark doesn’t lose things often, but he has been told—sometimes kindly, sometimes more directly—that he can be oblivious to things that are right in front of his nose. He wonders if they’ll actually come home with any shines. Nevertheless, in the face of Donghyuck’s excitement, all he says is, “Count me in.”(Mark and Donghyuck celebrate Lunar New Year in a uniquely Northwest way.)
Relationships: Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Mark Lee
Comments: 10
Kudos: 49





	take only one

**Author's Note:**

> I originally came up with the idea for this story for A Little Wonder Fest's February 2021 theme of Secrets. Except it soon became clear that it wouldn't fit within the fest's 3000 word limit. Oops. Hope you enjoy, even if you don't get the fun of an author reveal later. Happy Lunar New Year, to all who celebrate, in whatever way.

As always, it starts with a text. This one arrives in the middle of Mark’s history lecture.

> **hyuck** ▶︎ _are you ready for monkeyshines_

Mark has no idea what Donghyuck is talking about, though he’s learned to go with the flow at this point in their friendship. He has a more immediate problem—the annoyed look his professor is aiming his way. Mark quickly silences his phone and slides it into his jacket pocket.

When class ends, Mark hurries out the back door of the lecture hall. He does his best to type and walk, probably annoying all the people behind him who are in a hurry to be somewhere else.

> **hyuck** ▶︎ _taking that as a no_
> 
> ◁ _class had started  
> _ ◁ _and no_
> 
> **hyuck** ▶︎ _buy me coffee for leaving me on read_

Mark doesn’t bother replying, mostly because Donghyuck is waiting on the steps outside. They both have an awkward gap between classes in their Tuesday schedules. It’s not a long enough break to justify going back to their respective residence halls, and they’ve avoided the library since the one time they were kicked out for being too loud. So they have started hanging out at Metronome Coffee, just off campus, spending more money on fancy lattes (Donghyuck) and hot chocolate (Mark) than college students on limited budgets should. 

(Johnny insists on calling those hangouts _coffee dates_ , much to Mark’s red-faced embarrassment. Taeyong just calls them sweet, which is somehow even worse.)

Donghyuck tells Mark all about Monkeyshines as they walk together to the coffee shop. It’s a guerrilla art project in which glass orbs and medallions (“shines”) are hidden by parties unknown (“hider monkeys”) in public places around the city for people to discover in a moment of joyful serendipity. It takes place every winter during Lunar New Year and started in 2004—the year of the monkey. Each year the shines carry a special stamp for the new zodiac year. 2020 is the year of the rat.

“We have to look for them this weekend,” Donghyuck tells Mark. 

“We do?”

“Yuta has found one every year. He has a collection in his suite!”

Now that Donghyuck mentions it, Mark vaguely remembers seeing a row of what he thought were fancy snow globes (or possibly artsy bongs—it is the Pacific Northwest after all) on a shelf in Yuta, Ten, and Sicheng’s suite. 

At Metronome, Donghyuck orders the day’s special (a browned butter latte) and Mark his usual hot chocolate. Mark pays, trying not to hear Johnny’s voice saying _coffee date_ in his head. At their usual table, Donghyuck sketches out their plan of attack. It consists mostly of running around in the middle of the night with flashlights.

Donghyuck is lucky to find his phone charger in his own tiny dorm room on a good day. Mark doesn’t lose things often, but he has been told—sometimes kindly, sometimes more directly—that he can be oblivious to things that are right in front of his nose. He wonders if they’ll actually come home with any shines. Nevertheless, in the face of Donghyuck’s excitement, all he says is, “Count me in.”

###

The more people Mark asks about Monkeyshines, the more he realizes that everyone else already seems to know about it. Yuta’s collection consists of three orbs, one for every year of college so far, and he has vowed to pick one up in his senior and final year, too. “I’ve found more than three,” he boasts, “but you can only take one, you know. That’s the rule.”

“What did you do with the others?”

“You have to rehide them.” He smirks, a little too pleased with himself. “I put them in really sneaky places. The last time I checked, one of them was still there from 2018!”

Doyoung wrote a feature on Monkeyshines last year for the campus newspaper. He even interviewed one of the anonymous organizers, Ms Monkey, by phone. This is how Mark learns that Monkeyshines is on Twitter. 

“Their username is really @ANaughtyMonkey?”

“I know. I was worried about what was going to show up when I typed that into my phone, but it’s legit.”

“Have you ever found anything?”

Doyoung snorts. “A little blue-and-white marble two years ago. There are unofficial hiders, too, who hide art and other fun things around town. They call those rogues. I always miss going out the first night, and by the time I look all the best stuff is gone. Or maybe I’m just really bad at seeing things.”

Mark expects Johnny to have the best intel, since Johnny has been taking glass blowing lessons since last year. Instead he gives Mark a deeply unconvincing innocent look and says, “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Mark. Have you been getting enough sleep?”

When Mark reports this to Donghyuck, the other is not surprised. “I have a theory.”

“What’s that?”

“I bet Johnny’s in on the secret. They say most of the glass hot shops are involved. What if he’s a hider, too? Maybe we should follow him around.”

“I think that’s against the rules.” Mark has done his homework. It turns out that Ms Monkey isn’t only on Twitter. (Her Twitter bio: _Hiding art, telling the truth and pissing people off. Oh yeah... and flinging POOP!_ ) She also has a website, which describes the rules for keeping Monkeyshines fair and fun. Take only one. Give something back—art, kindness, love. And yes, don’t be a creep who stalks the hider monkeys.

The website also claims that Ms Monkey and friends no longer do a big drop of shines on a single night to prevent the most avid hunters from scooping up all the glass. Mark suggests that maybe they don’t need to go out on Friday night and could wait for Saturday morning. “Won’t it be easier to search in daylight?”

Donghyuck shakes his head. “Yuta has always found them at night. The first night. Let’s look on Friday. It will be more fun that way.”

###

For once, the weather forecast is forgiving—not too cold, not too wet—an unexpected mercy for this part of the world. Mark borrows a flashlight from Jaehyun, and then tosses a few extra things into his backpack: a box of bandaids, a fresh packet of wet wipes, extra socks, spare batteries, and his water bottle. It’s better to be prepared.

Mark and Donghyuck meet just after midnight outside Donghyuck’s residence hall and walk together over to the campus lot where Mark parks his beat up Subaru. It takes them a while to get there. Donghyuck insists on shining his flashlight under every bush, and there are an awful lot of neatly groomed shrubberies on their verdant campus. 

Their first stop is Wright Park, a city park that’s a mile and a half from campus, where there are a suspicious number of people wandering around with flashlights. Mark does his best not to lose track of Donghyuck, who is circling every tree, looking first at their roots and then shining his flashlight up into the branches. Occasionally they hear a burst of conversation and laughter as another group passes by. 

They slowly work their way around the perimeter of the park, and they are passing the two lion statues on the south end of the park when Mark sees a gleam in the bushes that isn’t obviously litter. (There’s a lot of litter. He wishes he’d brought gloves and a trash bag.) He crouches down and gingerly reaches between the pokey branches of the shrubbery. When he pulls back his hand, he’s holding a very large marble. Swirls of red and pink are suspended in the clear glass.

He shows it to Donghyuck, who is already leaning over his shoulder to see.

“It’s not an orb,” Mark says, “but it’s something?”

“It’s something,” Donghyuck agrees. “We should take a picture!” He takes a photo of the marble in Mark’s palm. He concentrates fiercely on his screen for a moment while he posts it to his Instagram. A moment later he says, “Looks like Renjun found something.” He turns his phone so Mark can see a slightly blurry photo of Renjun holding a blue glass bottle. 

“I didn’t know he was looking tonight, too,” Mark says. “Is that Lucas in the background? We could have all gone together.”

Donghyuck shrugs and slides his phone back into his pocket. “Let’s keep going. I still want to find an orb.”

They follow the path past the sprayground and picnic tables, heading toward the pond near the center of the park. There are a lot of people wandering around the pond, and Mark thinks that if there were any shines in the vicinity, they’ve probably already been snapped up. Mark is shining his flashlight under a gigantic rhododendron bush when he hears a familiar voice saying, “I bet there’s one on the island.”

“Yuta?”

One of the people standing by the edge of the pond turns around and shines a flashlight in his face. Then Yuta is throwing a friendly arm over his shoulders, and someone is slapping his butt. “Mark!”

Of course, the butt-slapper is Ten, who dodges neatly when Mark tries to return the favor. A moment later Sicheng walks up and offers Mark a silent nod.

“Have you found any shines yet?” Yuta asks.

“A marble,” Mark admits, digging it out of his pocket to show them. At least the pattern in the glass is pretty. “How about you?”

“I found a Year of the Rat poster on a telephone pole on Sixth Ave, but it’s in the car right now,” Ten says. “Are you out here alone? Come around with us!”

“No, Hyuck is around here somewhere.” Mark looks around but can’t see his best friend anywhere in the dark. “Hyuck? Hyuck!”

“I’m here,” Donghyuck says, appearing a couple moments later, a little breathless. There is dirt on the knees of his jeans and a leaf stuck in his hair. Mark plucks it out and drops it on the ground. “Did you find something?”

“Our friends?”

It’s too dark to see, but Donghyuck probably rolls his eyes. Then Ten says, “Yuta was saying he thinks there’s probably a shine on the island.”

There’s a very small island in the center of the pond, home to a white stone statue of a young woman. In the scant light, it’s impossible to see what might be hidden in the greenery at the statue’s base. The pond is probably shallow, and the island is not terribly far from shore, but Mark suspects the water is fucking cold.

“They like to put the shines near water,” Yuta says. “I found one in a fountain freshman year.”

“I am not going in,” Ten says. “That water has to be disgusting.”

Mark sees Donghyuck eyeing the island, and thinks, _Uh-oh._

Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, Yuta says, “Fuck it,” before Donghyuck can do anything rash. Yuta hands his backpack to a surprised Sicheng and strips off his jacket and tosses it at Ten for good measure. 

Mark can’t decide whether he’s impressed or horrified as he watches Yuta wade into the pond. Yuta curses at the temperature but keeps going, the water rising quickly to his knees and eventually to his waist. He’s careful to hold his arms (and flashlight) out of the water. As he splashes toward the island, other searchers stop to watch his progress. A cheer goes up from the onlookers when Yuta finally reaches the island. 

Yuta does a quick circuit, sweeping the beam of his flashlight side to side. Then he pauses, before bending over to pick something up. He hoots in victory as he holds something high above his head that glimmers in the moonlight.

Ten shakes his head. “Every damn year. The rest of us find bits and bobs, and every year he nabs an orb.”

When Yuta finally makes his way back to them, he’s dripping water everywhere and smells like a neglected fish tank. He doesn’t seem to care as he shows off his treasure. 

Mark has seen plenty of glass art in his time. He took his parents to the Museum of Glass when they visited, and he’s admired the glass objects that Johnny’s made during his lessons. Still, he admits it’s thrilling to stumble over something this beautiful in the urban wild, completely for free. The glass orb is dappled blue and white, and the medallion melded to one side with the rat emblem is clear. For the first time he understands why Donghyuck is so fixated on finding an orb.

Donghyuck inspects the orb carefully when Yuta lets him hold it. He only gives it back when they notice that Yuta is shivering.

“Okay, okay,” Ten says. “Time for us to get this idiot home so he can get dry clothes.” He drapes Yuta’s jacket over his shoulder, and Sicheng starts pushing Yuta in the general direction of the road, where their car must be parked.

“Happy hunting,” Yuta calls, as he’s dragged away. “Remember the rule, kids! Only take one!”

###

Donghyuck agrees that Wright Park has probably been swept clean, so Mark drives them to their next hunting spot: the downtown museum district, where the city’s three biggest museums stand within half of a mile of each other. For once, there’s plenty of parking on Pacific Ave, probably because it’s almost two in the morning. The sidewalks are fairly empty, but not as deserted as they ought to be. They see another group of searchers as they’re getting out of the car.

They don’t turn up anything in front of the art museum, though Donghyuck insists they take selfies with a weird bear cub statue outside. They’re heading down the street toward the red brick arches of the history museum when Mark notices the crowd approaching them on the sidewalk.

It’s probably nothing, just a group of revelers heading home after a night out at a bar. They’re loud and obviously tipsy. One is weaving noticeably back and forth across the sidewalk. It’s hard to tell exactly how many of them there are, but it’s closer to ten than five, and Mark is suddenly very conscious that it’s just him and Donghyuck, with their flashlights and backpacks. He wishes they’d planned to search with Yuta, Ten, and Sicheng or joined forces with Renjun and Lucas. They hadn’t, so here they are, two gay Korean kids on the sidewalk in the middle of the night, facing a group of drunk white people.

Mark makes a quick decision and reaches for Donghyuck’s hand, saying, “Let’s check out the Bridge of Glass!” Then he’s pulling Donghyuck after him—away from sidewalk, away from the drunkards—ignoring Donghyuck’s surprised squawk until they’re in the middle of the famous bridge over I-705, surrounded by the lavishly lit installation of Chihuly glass.

Donghyuck is silent for once, but he sends Mark an unreadable look. 

“Sorry,” Mark says. “They looked like bad news.” 

“We probably would have been okay,” Donghyuck says. His fingers tighten briefly around Mark’s own, and Mark notices that they’re still holding hands. He doesn’t let go.

The Bridge of Glass stretches over the interstate, offering a safe pedestrian connection between downtown proper and the docks. At the center of the bridge, there are two large glass sculptures that look like rock candy. Most of the walls—and for one stunning stretch, the ceiling—are gallery cases, and sealed inside are dozens of examples of glass art. The entire installation is illuminated, so even at night it’s easy to marvel at the vivid colors and sinuous shapes. 

Mark has toured the bridge before, but never at night and never with Donghyuck. There’s no sign of any Monkeyshines, rogue or official, but for the moment it doesn’t matter. Donghyuck switches off his flashlight while he browses the bright exhibit, eventually releasing Mark’s hand when he stops to take a picture of a piece that he thinks is especially pretty. Mark mostly watches the play of light and color on Donghyuck’s face. It reminds him of Donghyuck’s rainbow tinted hair at the start of fall semester, when they met at some awkward freshman mixer and spent the whole night talking to each other and ignoring everyone else.

When they reach the other side of the bridge, they’ve arrived at the glass museum. Once upon the time, the waterfront area was mostly known for industrial pollution and neglect. The Museum of Glass became the anchor institution for the neighborhood’s revitalization. The museum is closed at this hour, of course, but it’s an experience even from the outside. All of downtown stands on a steeply sloped hillside, so the bridge brings Mark and Donghyuck to the glass museum’s roof level, where its unusual tiled cone roof stands tall against the backdrop of the waterway, and even further away, Mount Rainier. A flight of steps winds down around the cone to bring them to the new, lower street level and the museum’s main entrance. 

The museum doors are dark and locked, and Mark and Donghyuck are the only ones in the open plaza. So after scanning the ground near the museum doors, they wander over to look at the large outdoor installation of glass art—a series of clear glass swirls rising like steam out of a shallow reflecting pool that runs along the length of the plaza. The water is perfectly still, and the illuminated glass is like fire in the night.

At the far end of the reflecting pool, Donghyuck claims his first shine of the night. 

It’s a small mason jar, sitting on the lip of the reflecting pool’s retainer wall. It contains a rock painted to look like a ladybug, a small card with some writing, and an enamel pin with a very cute rat design. It may not be an official orb or medallion, but it’s definitely part of Monkeyshines. 

“Congratulations,” Mark says, as Donghyuck unscrews the lid so he can take a closer look at his treasures. The card says, “Happy New Year!” in an untidy scrawl. The rat pin is especially adorable. Donghyuck inspects it closely before pinning it onto his backpack. 

“It’s nice that neither of us will go home empty-handed,” Mark points out.

“That’s right,” Donghyuck says. “It’s officially a successful night.”

###

They search along Dock Street for a while longer, and while they don’t come across any other shines, they encounter plenty of other amusements. They admire the boats lined up along the pier, with their funny names, and debate what they would name a boat. Mark can’t decide (“Wouldn’t it depend on the boat?”), while Donghyuck goes for “Full Sun.” They find an outdoor xylophone—probably placed there by some City agency to teach kids about music—and spend rather a lot of time banging away at it. Fortunately, no one yells at them to be quiet, even though they’d deserve it if someone did.

Mark keeps forgetting that he’s supposed to be looking for shines.

Eventually they agree that it’s time to move to another hunting spot. They backtrack to Mark’s car, and he drives north and west to the Ruston waterfront, a favorite place for running and biking in the city. He pulls into a parking spot in a public lot just past Les Davis Pier. When he’s set the parking brake and turned off the ignition, he turns to tell Donghyuck that they’ve arrived and discovers that Donghyuck's fast asleep in the passenger seat.

How ironic. Donghyuck has always been the one who enjoys pulling all-nighters for the hell of it, running on energy drinks and adrenaline, while Mark usually makes himself go to sleep at a semi-reasonable hour because his mornings are full of classes and other activities. And of course, Donghyuck was the one who insisted this particular excursion needed to be at night.

Well, there’s nothing wrong with resting for a while. Mark’s feet are tired after all the walking around they’ve done, and dawn is still far away. He double checks that the car doors are locked and then lets his eyes fall closed. 

###

Mark wakes up to a gentle tug on his ear. 

“Mark. Markly. Makgeolli.” 

He rubs the sleep out of his eyes and tries to stretch in the scant space allowed by the driver’s seat. He ends up hitting the button for the horn in the center of the steering wheel, and the blast of noise makes him jump. He nearly sets off the horn again.

Next to him, Donghyuck is cracking up. When he’s finally recovered his composure, he shows Mark the screen of his phone. “It’s past six.”

“How long have you been up?”

“Not long,” Donghyuck says. At some point he pulled his sweatshirt’s hood over his head and his sleeves over his hands—he must be cold. “Only Yuta seems to have found an orb last night.” 

“Hmm. Do you want to keep looking?”

Donghyuck doesn’t answer right away. His stomach answers instead, with a growl that’s loud within the close confines of the car. They both crack up again, and then Donghyuck says, “I still want to find an orb. But I am kind of hungry.”

“I have an idea,” Mark says.

Taeil is studying urban planning, and he’s told Mark all about the new waterfront park that connects Point Ruston and Point Defiance. Once upon a time the site had been the home to a copper smelting facility, responsible for decades of pollution in the air and water and ground. The smokestack had been demolished in the nineties, but it had taken years for the site to be cleaned up and contained. The city’s newest public space—Dune Peninsula—had only opened on the former smelter site last summer. 

The sky is beginning to lighten when Mark pulls into an empty parking spot in the Dune Peninsula lot. The early morning runners are out with their reflective technical gear and illuminated vests. The dog walkers are probably not far behind. A misty rain has started to fall.

“Have you been out here yet?”

“I don’t think so,” Donghyuck says. “This is Point Defiance, right? Past the movie theatre?” 

“That’s right. Taeil told me about something fun out here—and it’s a public park, so there might be shines here."

Like so much else in the city, the park is situated on a hillside that slopes steeply down to the waters of Puget Sound. Everywhere else in the city, that means carefully walking or biking or driving up and down the streets and sidewalks, or climbing and descending numerous flights of stairs. In this park, however, there’s another option to get down to the water. 

Slides.

It’s like a life-size game of Chutes and Ladders—the series of slides (and stairs for the faint-hearted) going down the hillside. The slides are made out of sleek metal, and Mark is certain they are way smoother than the scratchy plastic ones in toddler lots. At the end of each slide there appears to be a landing pad of blue rubber tiles in a cursory nod toward safety.

Mark has never been scared of a slide before, but heights do make him a little anxious. This slide feels very high. Mark tries not to imagine himself rocketing off the end, into the air, and eventually into the water.

“That’s a long way down,” Donghyuck says, who looks thrilled.

“Imagine if they’d made it one slide all the way down.”

“Lawsuit waiting to happen. Are we going to do it?”

“Are you going to tell everyone we didn’t go down the slides?”

“After you, then.”

That’s a challenge, if there ever was one. Mark takes a deep breath and then sits down at the top of the first slide. The metal surface is cold and slightly wet from the rain.

“Are you nervous?” Donghyuck says, from just behind him.

“Not at all,” Mark lies. He is immediately reminded that honesty is the best policy, because Donghyuck takes that as permission to send him off with an enthusiastic shove.

Mark yelps in surprise because the slide is fast, even faster than expected. The combination of Mark’s smooth rain jacket and the slightly damp surface makes his journey almost frictionless, and Mark feels like he is flying until his feet slam into the blue landing pad—soft and squishy, thank god—and he’s doing his best not to fall on his face.

From the top of the slide, Donghyuck shouts, “Are you okay?”

“Yes, asshole!”

“Then get out of my way,” he says, launching himself down the slide as well. 

Of course, Donghyuck lands gracefully, and he’s still laughing at Mark when he stands up. “I wish I’d recorded that scream.”

“I could have died,” Mark says.

“Little kids probably go down this slide every day without anyone dying, you baby.” Donghyuck brushes himself off, and then adds, “Ugh, my jeans are all wet now.”

They’re not even a quarter of the way down. “Do you want to keep going?”

“We can’t stop here,” Donghyuck says. “There might be a shine at the bottom!”

There aren’t shines at the end of any of the slides, but then again, they only do very cursory searches. When they’ve reached the bottom, Mark considers the steps going back up to the parking lot and says, “If you beat me back to the top, I’ll buy you breakfast.”

(He lets Donghyuck win.)

###

The best donuts in town are definitely at Pao’s, a little family-owned shop on the west end of Sixth Ave, next door to a branch of the public library. In a city that’s rapidly gentrifying, it’s a throwback to simpler times. The interior of the shop probably hasn’t been updated since the nineties, they accept cash payments only, and they don’t even have an official Instagram. They also have zero interest in making novelty donuts with ingredients like Fruit Loops or bubble gum or bacon. They simply make the very best old fashioneds, maple bars, and apple fritters that Mark’s ever eaten.

There’s a line out the door when Mark pulls into the crowded parking lot. It is Saturday morning, after all, a good day for donuts. He looks at Donghyuck, who is quite cozy in the passenger seat, and then at the unmoving line in the rain, which is starting to fall harder.

“Do you want to wait here? No reason for us to both get soaked.”

“Thanks. I want two donuts this time. And coffee!”

Mark pulls up his hood and zips his rain jacket up to his chin before getting out of the car and taking a spot at the end of the walk-up line. At least he’s mostly sheltered by the shop’s awning. He pulls out his phone to check the time and is confronted by a screen filled with notifications.

> **jeno** ▶︎ _did you find anything  
> _ **jeno** ▶︎ _are you alive_
> 
> ◁ _just a marble  
> _ ◁ _did you search last night_
> 
> **jeno** ▶︎ _he lives!  
> _ **jeno** ▶︎ _yeah. with the others_
> 
> ◁ _we should have met up_
> 
> **jeno** ▶︎ _we invited you  
> _ **jeno** ▶︎ _hyuck said no  
> _ **jeno** ▶︎ _you’re with hyuck, right?_

That’s news to Mark. He decides to figure it out later as the line starts to move. When it’s finally his turn, he orders a maple bar, a buttermilk bar, and two apple fritters. Plus a large coffee for Donghyuck. He remembers he has a water bottle in his backpack, and doesn’t order a drink for himself. 

Getting back in the car without dropping anything proves to be a bit of a trick, but Mark manages to avoid disaster. Donghyuck is delighted with his donuts. He has stuffed half an apple fritter in his mouth before Mark’s managed to get back behind the wheel. 

It’s only when Mark tries to reach for his backpack, which is sitting on the floor of the car by Hyuck’s feet, that everything goes sideways.

“What are you doing?” Donghyuck asks, trying to move the bag further away from him.

“Getting my water bottle,” Mark says, lunging a little further and getting his hand around the shoulder strap. Despite Donghyuck’s active interference, Mark somehow manages to retrieve his bag without spilling Donghyuck's coffee or knocking donuts on the floor. “You’re being very weird,” he tells Donghyuck, as he unzips the bag and digs around for his Hydro Flask.

His hand closes around something smooth and cold and rounded—something that is not a metal water bottle, or a box of bandaids, or a pair of extra socks. He pulls it out and there is a glass medallion in his hand. The glass is clear and purple, and there's an image of a rat stamped in its center. It’s gorgeous, and somehow it was in his fucking backpack.

“You weren’t supposed to find that yet,” Donghyuck says. “Happy New Year?”

“You found one?” Then again, Mark doesn’t know why he’s even surprised. Donghyuck may lose things at an incredible rate, but he’s always been sharp. If there was a shine around, it’s hard to believe that he wouldn’t have found it. “Where?”

Donghyuck bites his lip before answering. “Under a bush in Wright Park.”

Their first stop of the night. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

“You weren’t even paying attention to me because we ran into Yuta, Ten, and Sicheng,” Donghyuck pouts. “And you would have said we should go home because I found something, even though we’d just started looking.”

That is… not a totally unfair accusation. “But why did you put it in my bag?”

“Because you drove us around all night, and you carried around bandaids and extra socks in your bag like a boy scout, and you went down that slide even though you were terrified, which was hilarious, by the way.” Donghyuck takes a deep breath and adds, “It was never about the shines. It’s about spending time together. You’re so dense sometimes, Mark Lee. I don’t know why I even like you this much.”

That’s a lot of information—especially for someone who has only gotten about two hours of sleep in the last day. Mark looks down at the glass medallion in his hand and runs his fingers over the rat design imprinted on its surface.

“Hyuck. You’re not supposed to give shines away. This belongs to you.”

“But—”

“But maybe we could go on a date that we both admit is a date sometime? And I can treat you to something better than donuts? Or lattes?” When he dares to look up at his best friend, he discovers that Donghyuck’s ears are turning red. It’s pretty adorable.

“I’d like that,” Donghyuck says quietly.

Mark didn’t even know Donghyuck could be this shy. He doesn’t dislike it, but he likes his usual Donghyuck better—the one who is bright and brash and happy to shove him down a giant slide. He places the glass medallion in Donghyuck’s hands. “Don’t you want to brag about your medallion on Instagram? Everyone keeps asking me if we found anything.”

Donghyuck unlocks his phone.

###

A three photo sequence, posted to Donghyuck’s Instagram, at 7:21 a.m. on January 26.

First, a close-up of the glass medallion sitting on the dashboard of Mark’s car, the rain-spotted windshield in the background.

Next, an awkwardly angled selfie. Donghyuck is holding the medallion next to his face, and Mark is leaning in from the driver’s seat to be in the frame.

In the third and last photo, Donghyuck’s lips are on Mark’s cheek, and Mark’s eyebrows look like they’re about to fly off his head.

Renjun posts the first comment at 7:23 a.m. 

_About time!_

###

The sun comes up at some point, though no one can see it thanks to the thick curtain of clouds. By the time they get back to campus, the rain has become a true downpour. That doesn’t put a damper on Donghyuck’s spirits. He practically skips as they head back from the student parking lot to their quad.

They’ve almost reached Donghyuck’s residence hall when Mark notices a sparkle in the shrubbery. Maybe it’s just litter. Maybe it’s a shine. He leaves it for someone else to investigate. He’s had more than his fair share of unexpected joy tonight.

“We should both get some sleep,” Mark says, when they’re finally at the front doors of Donghyuck’s building. “Call me when you’re up, okay?”

“Okay,” Donghyuck says. “Thanks for everything tonight.”

“Anytime,” Mark says, and he means it.

He waits for Donghyuck to go inside, but Donghyuck doesn’t seem to be in any hurry to move, despite the rain. He seems to be waiting for something. Mark’s just about to ask what it might be when Donghyuck sighs and says, “If this was a date, you could kiss me goodnight.”

Oh, that. 

Donghyuck tastes of coffee, apple fritters, and rain. He pulls Mark back in for an enthusiastic second kiss when Mark tries to let him go inside.

Mark wouldn’t trade this moment for all the shines in the world.

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Lunar New Year!
> 
> Please imagine Renjun demanding updates from Hyuck throughout the night.
> 
> Monkeyshines is a real community event that takes place in Tacoma, Washington. You can indeed find the mysterious Ms Monkey online at [@ANaughtyMonkey](https://twitter.com/ANaughtyMonkey) and her [website](https://suchanaughtymonkey.wordpress.com).
> 
> Most of the places mentioned in this story are real, though I believe Metronome Coffee closed before the 2020 Monkeyshines event. Here are a few links for those who are interested:  
> [Wright Park](https://www.metroparkstacoma.org/place/wright-park/)  
> [Tacoma Art Museum (and its outdoor bear cub statue)](https://www.tacomaartmuseum.org/outdoor-sculptures/)  
> [Museum of Glass](https://www.museumofglass.org)  
> [Bridge of Glass](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridge_of_Glass)  
> [Dune Peninsula Park and its slides](https://southsoundmag.com/new-park-opens-with-chutes-and-ladder-style-slides/)  
> [Pao’s Donuts](https://www.facebook.com/Paos-Donuts-Coffee-Shop-193087870758560/)
> 
> ###
> 
> Comments and kudos are deeply appreciated. You can also find me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/intuitionist17)!


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